


Better days (are not always easy to find)

by Cat_inthe_Hat



Category: Naruto
Genre: Attempt Fix It, Canon-Typical Violence, Found Family, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Not Always a Success, They are child soldiers after all, Uchiha Massacre
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-03-01 11:02:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13293441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat_inthe_Hat/pseuds/Cat_inthe_Hat
Summary: Life is a circle. Reincarnation is real.You die and then go back as a new being with no previous memories of what or who you once are. That's how it always worked and always will work, it's a good system. But not a flawless one.Some souls end up falling in the little cracks that form the universe, they escape the gripe of their reality and are just... Gone. Most just end up in the void between worlds, stuck in the endless abyss until the day where everything will end, never to regain conscience or to live again, but others - Few and far in between- manage to fall so perfectly that they end up in another universe, another reality and so are reincarnated there.It's rare but it happens.Miyuki never dreamed of being a hero, never wanted to change the world. It's a shame that she doesn't have much of a choice anymore.In Tokyo one life ends.In Konoha one life begins.





	1. Chapter 1

Miyuki always had weird dreams.

She was a strange little thing, one of those babies who would scream bloody murder all hours of the day and give absolute no rest to those poor souls taking care of her. Everyone was worried for the baby who simple couldn’t sleep for more than half an hour before screaming like in pain but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with her so they just had to adjust to it thinking that the time would somehow lessen it enough to allow her to sleep.

It didn’t.

Soon enough the remedies started. Her body couldn’t handle the strain of being awake for so long and her chakra was the only thing keeping her in a stable state but a baby isn’t aware enough to maintain himself purely using chakra and the sedatives are necessary for her survival.

The sedatives helped to be fair, but perhaps not in the way people expected, true she could sleep now but every time Miyuki closed her eyes she would dream. Even before she could actually remember they were there, especially in her first five years of life when her brother always had to go and wake her up at least once each night because she started screaming and crying. No one could ever say exactly what they were about, first because she was too young to really explain what haunted her nights and second because what the little girl could say made no sense, she spoke of things that no one could imagine and certainly did not exist in their world, other times she talked about her parents, people she never met.

With time they started stopping, the interval between them increasing from days to weeks until months where Miyuki slept without any kind of good or bad dream would pass. But as they decreased in frequency they increased in clarity. From the blurred and distorted images that a four-year-old little girl murmured in her brother's arms to vivid scenes that a seven-year-old girl kept for herself, claiming she could no longer remember what she saw.

Apart from the images that haunted her sleep there was nothing very special about her. Orphan, her mother lost in her birth and her father in a mission a little early, raised by the kindness of the rest of the Clan and her older brother, a student at the Academy like so many other young kids in Konoha. If it were not for the badge on the back of the dark blue dress she wore there would be nothing in her that would attract people's gaze.

But if they knew about her thoughts, they might begin to rethink that attitude. Because Miyuki always had these  _ things _ in her mind, those thoughts that came out of nowhere, those words that did not make sense and especially that knowledge that went far beyond her age, things she understood in the first explanation as if she only needed to remind, things that she just knew without needing any help or instruction. The teachers talked of course, about how she understood theories of years more advanced than her own, how she learned faster than others in her class, how well she could write and read with perfection, how she excelled without trying. They even talked about letting her graduate early.

Then she learned to hide.

Because her brother had an expression of concern when this option first arose and he looked almost scared when Yoko-sensei told him to think about how good it would be to the Village if they had another genius child from the Uchiha. Later Miyuki would discover why his brother hated that idea, she would learn that it is not safe to stand out in a shinobi village where they are tools for the collective good before they are individuals, she would be able to see by herself that those who stand out always receive the worst, most difficult missions, the most terrible and dirtiest jobs, are always the first ones to break with the pressure.

_ Stay in the shadows, learn to be the best, but do not let them figure it out, because if they know then your enemies will know it too _ .  _ When you start to stand out, to be better than your peers, the village will swallow you whole. _

Those are the things that her brother explained to her one sunny afternoon while they were sitting at the kitchen table, tea going cold in front of them as he started to explain the harsh truths about their lives and their reality. There are no children in a shinobi clan, that is taken away from them as soon as they are born because there is only one acceptable destiny and that is the Academy, is the life of a ninja with all their dangers and suffering, the adults will sugar coat things sometimes, they will talk about the glory and the good parts to hide the tragedy, but her brother isn’t one of those people. He will do what’s best for her, what will keep her alive and sane for more time, and in this case is explaining the ugly truth before she can lose herself in illusions.

He taught her how to lie, how to fake confusion and lack of ability, how to look average and not a step beyond that, how to identify what people expect and adjust to it, be good but not good enough to be the best, let them see your potential but never ever show them what you have achieved, protect yourself because no one is going to do it for you. But he secretly taught her other things as well, hiding your potential isn’t the same thing as slacking, as giving up on getting better. He taught her techniques with kunais and shurikens, basic jutsus taught to children who make all the difference in the fight but who are rarely used once they leave the Academy, theories and secrets of the Clan that would take years before she could even dream about putting in practice.

It was their little secret.

They are okay like that, they are  _ happy _ , a little family of two struggling to live rather than exist.

But then things changed so suddenly that it was as if the sky and the sea had changed places.

She woke up screaming.

Nothing new to be honest, just another nightmare, the first in almost four months, but this one was different and brought with it much more than disjointed words and strange knowledge.

For a few moments she doesn’t even know where she is and everything hurts as if there was fire inside her veins, it seems her head will explode with all the ridiculous things she is suddenly  _ remembering _ , not imagining how she thought she was for so many years. There are places that do not exist, faces that do not belong there, names that now mean nothing, memories that have lost all their meaning for a long time. There is a storm brewing in her brain and too much conflicting knowledge that clashes into a cacophony that threatens to drive her mad.

She remembers a crowded city  _ (Tokyo? Japan?), _ bright lights and towering buildings, cars and a cell phone and so many other things that do not exist in Konoha and may never do so. She remembers the call she was making, the harsh words she exchanged with the person on the other side of the line  _ (Mother? Sister? Friend?) _ , not the motive or the beginning, only the anger and disappointment that surrounded her and blinded her to everything else.

But most of all she remembers the pain and the screams. She remembers the car coming and the panic when she realized that there was no time to avoid the collision, the blood that escaped from so many places at the same time, the panic of the people who witnessed the event.

Miyuki remembers dying.

Of feeling her consciousness fading and of physically feeling her heart stop, of seeing a light different from all the others and when the light finally touched her she woke up in her bed screaming.

Suddenly she cannot breathe, she's crying and her hands shake and tingle.  _ A panic attack _ , her minds informs,  _ an effect of the new-old memories that are now populating your mind _ . They are blurred like a feverish dream and seem like really strange illusions rather than a touchable reality, she doesn’t feel emotions about them, about the people she now realize are left behind in that world, it's like reading a bad written book where you cannot sympathize with any of the characters but somehow is still intense and the surprise is enough to shake you to the core.

The buzzing in her ears makes her only notice the presence of another person there when strong arms wrap her in an overwhelming embrace. The presence of her brother who has always served to comfort her and bring peace after the nightmares now only makes her cry harder and shake like a leaf in a storm, she does the only logic thing in her mind and embraces him with all the strength that her seven-year-old body can muster.

"It’s all right now, little sister, you're awake and safe. You are safe." Shisui murmurs, bringing her into his lap without breaking the embrace."Miyu, look at me. It's okay, everything is okay now. It was just another nightmare."

"Nii-san" The word burns in her throat because she  _ loves him _ , loves her brother more than anything in the world and now she knows, knows who he really is and especially what will happen in the future "Where am I? Where? I was… it was…"

"You're in the Uchiha District, very safe inside Konoha." Shisui is gentle in wiping her tears even though they do not stop falling. "I bet that was one of the ugly ones to leave you like this, but it is over now. You are awake and here with me. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't remember, I don't remember" She repeats the lie tightening her arms around him and trying not to think about Shisui falling in the swift waters without both eyes, one with Danzo and the other with Itachi. The idea of letting him go is too scary so she begs, choking in her sobs "Stay with me, please, please, stay with me."

"Of course I will, that's what big brothers are for." He smiles at her with quiet confidence and affection, his eyes warm "I'll  _ always _ be here to protect you Miyuki, it's a promise and you know i never break them."

Miyuki wants to laugh. She fights the urge to let out a hysterical laugh and just sobs harder, hiding her face in his chests, her whole body shaking with sobs as another panic attack threat to overcome her. The irony is completely overwhelming. Shisui will not be around to protect her for much longer, if her memories are any indication he will be dead soon seeing that his physical appearance is a perfect portrait of the one she vaguely remembers to see in the manga. And the worst part is that this will happen as he tries to keep his promise, while he tries to keep Konoha safe, but it will not happen, not in the way he wants at least. Peace will be guaranteed true, but someone will definitely kill her during the massacre.

God this is so fucked up. It’s so unfair it falls right into cruelty. Shisui is all that she sees when she thinks about family, the one that truly matters, the one who wipe away her tears, make her laugh, teaches her things, the only family she knows and loves. 

And she can't save him.

There is nothing she can do to stop Danzo from plotting the massacre of the Clan and using Itachi for it, there is no way to stop something that is being prepared for so long, longer than she was born into this world probably, she wants to save them, wants to avoid such a tragedy but she  _ can’t _ . Miyuki curses the world for remembering everything now of all times, now when it's too late to change anything, but soon enough to experience it all. It’s not fair. 

"I love you Nii-san, i really love you" She confesses hugging him harder because she doesn't know if the last time they will see each other is going to be tomorrow or in several months 

"I love you too little sister" Shisui says and smiles as bright as the sun.

Uchiha Miyuki closes her eyes and weps in her brother's arms, because she knows. She knows what will happen, knows who Shisui really is and what will happen to him, knows more about this world than anyone could ever dream of-  _ And how ironic is that, a petty part of her giggled, that she as more knowledge of this world than Orochimaru and Madara- _ , she knows that somehow this is not her place, that she is an outsider who knows too much and can change very little. She cries and cries because of what will be and what she can't change.

But there is a moment, hours later, that she can’t cry anymore and the tears stop. They stop because Miyuki  _ knows _ , knows the pain and the tragedy and everything bad that is to come, but she also knows who are the enemies, what are their goals, their plans and their weaknesses. And she can't change everything, can't save everyone-  _ Maybe she can't even save herself _ \- she can't save  _ Shisui  _ who means the whole world, but there are others suffering, others who will die. 

And she can at least try.

This is no longer just a story she read and reread for so many years, there are no more characters, no more fiction. This is her world now and she cant let all suffering repeat itself.

_ (Now she just has to find a way to survive the Massacre.) _

/////////////

Less than a month later two member of the Clan  knocked on her door with expressions of deep remorse and barely concealed anger. She knew what was to come, had been trying to prepare herself for it ever since the memories of an old and weird life returned, but no preparation was enough and in the end she had to be hugged as she screamed and cried like the child who, in that world, she is.

/////////////

It's the screams that warn her that something is happening.

They surprise her more than she thought they would, she's been waiting for that day since her brother's death was declared after all and it comes as no surprise to her that it's happening. But mental preparation is futile in situations like this, she has no plan, no idea of what she can do to save herself. Miyuki has vague memories of being reprimanded for never planning for the consequences of her actions and vaguely wonders if she will be the same in this life.

The house where she lives is removed from the center of the District where the stores are located and the Clan Head lives, those who live here are the orphans that nobody wanted, those who are not useful to the Clan or the Village and those who somehow shamed the great name of the Uchihas, the ones no one wants close. Easy targets for a shinobi like Itachi.

Miyuki was eating when it started, or rather, she was looking at the food and willing herself to eat when the commotion reached her ears and her reaction was delayed by the fatigue of sleepless nights and lack of food. Shisui's absence hurts like an open wound and anything that reminds her of it is enough to stir tears, the strange memories are only a small portion of what keeps her awake at night and much of her feels relieved by it. Adapting to the memories was easier than expected, actually she is not sure if memories are the best term, they are hers of course, but blurred and distant in a way that makes it almost easy to ignore them, more of fever dreams than a touchable reality. Of course, her emotional was completely fucked by them, Miyuki was in her late teens when she died ( _ 18? 19? Vague memories of attending a university _ ), but while her mind thinks and processes how an adult's her body and emotions are appropriate to her current age, she feels like emotions like a seven year old do. It's a nuisance, something she can’t wait to leave behind, and she made denial her new best friend, Miyuki refuses to think about how things turned like this.

But delayed or not her first reaction is to run off into the streets that are quickly crowded with people doing the same. She probably looked totally pathetic to the running people, nothing more than the frightened little girl who cried in her brother's arms about dreams she never understood. But in a way that's exactly what she is.

Her body and emotions are still those of a child and she is  _ frightened _ . Frightened by the idea of dying again, of losing the chance to change this blood-stained world, afraid of pain, of what would happen next .

It was terrifying.

Hearing people screaming and crying and  _ dying _ all around her was absolute hell, she was crying and almost calling her brother name in fear-  _ Useless, totally useless, Shisui is dead, dead. His body lost in the waters, dead because of greed and anger and she will never see him again _ \- the whole time, mind lost to panic as the smell of blood became stronger. But if there is anything good, in the most distorted way one can think, in the traumatic and terrible experience was the awakening of her Sharingan in its most basic and instinctive form.

It should not have come as a surprise to her. Suffering and death are the best ways for a Uchiha to gain power.

Miyuki hide in a house smothering her sobs and trying to ignore the still hot bodies and the blood that still drains from them, she is tired of running and can't help but notice that it is a useless attitude anyway.  _ Obito will probably kill anyone who get to the gates _ . Her usually black eyes are turned blood red with her dying Clan’s kekkai genkai awake for the first time, analyzing every detail and trying to think of a plan, a way to survive this hell of a night.

One thing is clear: She has to be found by Itachi. Obito will kill her without hesitation, the world as a whole means nothing to him, let alone a Uchiha brat. But Itachi? There is a chance that he will hesitate, she is the younger sister of Shisui, a helpless and frightened seven-year-old child, there is no reason for him to want to see her dead and maybe, just maybe there’s a human part inside of him. He doesn’t know that she has awakened the Sharingan, maybe she can be wounded rather than killed? The chances of bleeding to death are still high but there are no other options, no more time to think. 

He finds her a few minutes later. 

It's Itachi ( _ Thanks for little mercies _ ) and she's ready- Or trying to convince herself of that, her hands are shaking and her sobs are probably what denunciate her position- her long curly hair is covering the Sharingan and the improvised plan is all she has.

Itachi lures forward with his blade ready for a mercy kill, fast and fatal and everything she doesn’t need, but he recognizes her of course, with her curly hair like her brother's and a heart-shaped face he's seen a thousand times, and the hesitation Miyuki prayed for happens. She moves to the left as far as she can without drawing attention, he moves the blade slightly off course and what should be a fatal blow is not.

Instantly the overwhelming pain forces her to fall, the impact barely felt in favor of the agony that begins to spread through her body and the sensation of blood escaping in an alarming rate. Itachi looks at her for a few seconds, his hands flexing in his weapon as if internally struggling with something, but to her great relief he only stares at her for a few moments and disappears.

Put a hand on the wound.

_ Breathe calmly. _

Put more strength the bleeding is bad.

_ Breathe. _

Don't panic.

Someone should be arriving soon.

Just hang on.

Don't Cry.

_ Don't make any noise. _

Stay awake.

Open your eyes.

Sleeping is bad.

_ It's cold, very cold. _

The noise stopped.

_ There are no more screams, maybe everyone is already dead. _

Do not move or you'll bleed faster.

The feeling of numbness is bad.

The pain in the wound is good keep pressing.

_ Please, someone needs to come. _

Breathing hurts, but you have to.

Do not close your eyes!

It is not sleep calling you.

_ Please….. _

Black eyes close. Tremulous and pale hands lose pressure on the wound. She loses her consciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

It was an incredibly monotonous day for Konoha. And so any shinobi who who had any worth was suffering from a serious discomfort on account of that, an itch with no visible reason, something deep inside them that screamed danger.

Hidden Villages are never like this, never this peaceful or quiet. There's always something going on, a new gossip coming out of managers' mouths or at least an interesting fight between rivals or even a friendly match in the training grounds, some new mission to shake things up, no matter, there is always  _ something _ . Too much silence is always a storm signal and no shinobi likes to be caught off guard, especially not inside his own home, this quietness is dangerous.

The ANBU agent codenamed Hound is one of those assigned to guard the Hokage in this uncanny night. Sarutobi is restless and even those without the extensive training of the elite force are able to realize that, the moon is already high in the sky and he doesn’t seem motivated to leave his office when on all other days the Sandaime would already be in his home, always arriving in time for dinner with his grandson. The worst thing is that he is not even bending over papers or in an important meeting, the old man just faces the Village through his window with an impassive mask.

It is by no means a normal behavior.

But ANBU's work doesn’t involve asking questions ( _ Quite the contrary _ ) so no matter that the Hokage's behavior is odd and even worrisome none of the three stand-by guards make any effort to mention anything about the unusual situation, they just watch and worry in silence. They are not there to speak or even to be seen, the porcelain masks (A dog, a cat, and a kind of bird) represent above all the inexpressiveness that is expected of them. The ANBU doesn’t question, doesn’t hesitate and doesn’t ask unless it is necessary for the mission.

It was approaching ten-thirty at night when the normality of the day was totally destroyed by the kind of news no man expects to hear in his life.

A man, a chunnin by the looks of it, almost throws himself against the door in his haste to reach the Hokage but as soon as he steps close the guards move and the man is forced to stop when weapons are pointed to his vital points but even the threat of certain death doesn’t seem to register in his mind. He looks up to them, wide haunted eyes and pale features as if he had just seen the worst of the horrors.

"Hokage-sama! You have to come with me, a thing... A terrible thing happened, we don't know... We don't know HOW sir. The Uchihas... When we changed shifts in the vigilance we saw.." The man doubled over as if afflicted by nausea, "Oh gods it's terrible, children.. Even the children! Sir you need..."

"Calm down," Sarutobi says quietly and calmly approaches the newcomer in controlled footsteps, but his face begins to frown in concern "What's going on with the Uchiha? Is there a problem there?"

"They're dead." The sentence was uttered in disbelief, something heavy in the air "We've switched the shifts in the surveillance center now and what we've seen ... It looks like a slaughter has happened! Bodies everywhere ... Even the children! "

Those were the words that awakened the chaos.

Soon half of the ANBU had been summoned and sent to the complex and its surroundings divided into groups with the functions of investigating the place, searching for survivors and finding the culprit if he was still around, doctors were called and sent to the local case there was still someone alive, a message was sent to the T & I to find and interrogate the previous watchers, the Hokage himself and his night guards went to the district as soon as the orders were given. Everything happened so fast they had no real time to stop and digest the situation.

The man behind the dog mask did not miss the change the news brought about in the Hokage's physiognomy, there is more to it than concern or uncertainty, and the shoulders of the most powerful man in Konoha seems to have taken on a monumental weight the moment they crossed the gates and encountered the first bodies.

He has fought a war and been on more murder missions than he can count on for the sight of bodies and blood to cause him any nausea or discomfort, death scenes are always depressing and seem to weigh with all the lives and dreams that have been interrupted . But this is different. 

_ This is not a battlefield _ . 

Those are not soldiers who were engaged in battle. The blood-stained floor is the floor of a place that should be safe, a place where children play and friends talk, the weapons thrown everywhere should be used only on missions, only outside the Village, silence and lack of movement don’t belong in what should be the home of hundreds of people, these houses with their doors wide open and broken are simply wrong.

The worse however is something taken right out of a war scenario. The bodies thrown into the corners, those near the gates. The fallen figures of children, elderly and civilians who defenseless tried to run toward the safety of the rest of Konoha but never managed to reach it, people who couldn't fight, who never stood a chance against their killer. Near him the face of a boy who could not be older than 4 years still shows traces of tears and pure terror.

_ This is a massacre. _

"This is terrible." The girl behind the cat mask, much younger than the other two, spared from battlefields for it, murmurs what everyone thinks. "What kind of monster could have done this?"

"One with not only a great skill but also anger” It’s the answer of the elder, the man in the bird mask “How no one realized something was happening? It must have taken at least one hour to kill all of those people, unless of course this was the job of a group.”

"This place is too far from the rest of the Village, no one could hear them screaming and it looks like no one crossed the gates either” The guard with the dog masks replies “The only ones who could have noticed were the guards and either they turned a blind eye or something happened with them too, which is not improbable "

"Enough of conjectures!" The Hokage orders without any venom in his voice, his eyes still focusing on the tragic scene "Go search for survivors in the houses and alleys, someone may have managed to hide in there."

The three glanced around insecure about abandoning their  superior unprotected after something of this proportion happened without anyone realizing it, it takes power to be able to massacre an entire Clan like that and even a Hokage is not indestructible, especially if taken by surprise. Sarutobi realizing their hesitation shaped his gaze to something more severe and angry.

"That's an order."

The work of the ANBU is to obey.

The kunoichi went to take care of the alleys, the eldest left to join the doctors and Hound began to search the houses. Most were empty, their occupants probably dead on the streets, but others had been invaded, and if it had not been for the corpses lying on the floor one might think that no tragedy had occurred so organized that they were. Meticulous killer then, no unnecessary mess, the mark of a well trained shinobi. A quick check on the bodies confirmed his suspicions, virtually instantaneous deaths with clean and fatal blows in the invaded houses, but the people in the streets suffered a bit more, their deaths took more time. Not surprising, as formidable as any shinobi is at killing they are still human and murder is exhausting, the Uchiha Clan had hundreds of people at the some point the killer must have tired himself out.

The ANBU agent was just leaving another house (A dead woman in her own bed, a young man lying in the bathroom with the shower still on and a girl in her bed) when a group of doctors in frenzy rushed past him in the direction where the kunoichi had gone to. Curious and intrigued to see who might have survived the carnage he followed them, stopping close to her while the doctors quickly formed a circle around a fallen figure in the middle of the street, talking with each other in rushed anxious voices.

"Who is it?"

"Uchiha Fugaku's youngest son" Cat responded impassively, but completed in a low more confused tone "The only injury i saw on him was a cut in his arm, otherwise the boy looks physically impeccable. Why would someone kill a whole clan but leave him alive? It makes no sense.”

"Maybe because whoever did  it did not have the guts to kill that particular kid." Hound replies, frowning his eyebrows as a horrible realization forms in his mind.

"No ... Senpai! You don’t think anyone who did all this is ..." Kunoichi murmurs in amazement, always quick to put the pieces together "But he always seems so peaceful! He never showed any signs of being mentally unstable."

"No one ever shows." His tone is almost mocking, a shade of dark humor in his eyes “You are here for enough time to realize that no one is an example of mental health, it just happens that some people hide it better than others.”

Uchiha Itachi certainly deserves a performance award if he's really to blame for this slaughter. He never gave the impression of instability that often characterizes the members of ANBU especially the geniuses -  _ and Hound, or the man behind the mask, knows that this is something he sometimes fails to hide, it is difficult to pretend everything is fine when practically every mission he chooses for himself can be classified as suicidal  _ \- in fact it is the opposite, Itachi is an image of Konoha's future and a source of pride for his Clan. If that kid really chose to kill all those people then clearly everyone has made a grave error of judgment about him, which may explain how tired Hokage seems since they approached the District, after all he is -  _ was? _ \- the person in charge of Itachi.

But this is just conjecture. Ideas he should not even be paying attention to. ANBU's job is only to investigate when the Hokage orders to do so and at the moment this seems to be the last thing they should be doing. Until that little boy wakes up and tells them exactly what happened, it’s  better to keep his mouth shut.

"ANBU" One of the doctors calls looking in their direction "We'll take him to the hospital, besides a possible psychological trauma there’s nothing wrong with the boy. One of you could please inform the Hokage of this?”

Cat volunteers to do so in the same instant and with one last nod to the crowd she disappears among the houses and bodies. Hound gives a last look the the doctor’s before focusing in their surroundings trying to find any chakra signature that doesn’t belong to the ANBU or to the doctor, maybe someone else was lucky enough to be spared. He is not a sensor and his range is quite limited, but it’s more of a habit and a sense of duty than a real belief of his, some of the bodies are already cold, any possible survivor probably bleed to death.

So it comes as a huge surprise when he actually feels something.

The chakra is too weak to belong to any of them, unstable, flickering like a candle left under an open window, and he moves without a second though, following the trail to a house two streets away. the door was broken but is partially blocked by the body of a man whose throat was cut so he steps over the man and moves to the back of the room. In the heavy silence the low and laboured breathing of the dying child sounds as loud as a scream, he checks her pulse, as weak and unsteady as her breathing, before sending a chakra signal to the doctor and turning her around to put some pressure on the still bleeding wound.

He doesn’t believe in miracles but her survival is something very close to it. The wound was made with some sort of blade and while it is indeed very deep it probably missed any vital point, the girl’s bloody hands made it clear that she must have put pressure on the wound until she lost consciousness and that, that reducing of the bleeding, probably saved her from bleeding to death.

But he is not known for being optimistic and he is not sure if she will actually live to see another day. The doctors clearly share this view because as soon as they enter the house they push him away from her with a unnecessary force, their voices frantic and alarmed and just by looking at their faces he knows that the wound is more serious than it can look.

Deciding that his presence is no longer necessary he leaves the house never taking his eyes off the doctors and if not by years of training he would have bumped right into the Hokage who is standing by the door with his attention fixed in the inert body of the girl, the dark eyes of the most powerful man of the village showing all the emotion that his face and body language hide- Hound is very familiar with the feeling of guilt, it’s ridiculously easy or him to see it in other’s features.

"What shall we do now, sir?" He asks after a few moments of tense silence

“There’s not much to do besides waiting, while no team reports back with news about the murder i will accompany the two survivors to the hospital. I want you to tell those who are here that they must start collecting the bodies, i want this job done before the news spread to the village and that i don’t want, under any circumstances, people snooping around here, the only ones with permission to approach this place are the ones i order to do so.” 

"Hai Hokage-sama" He inclines his head in respect and soon disappears from the man's eyes.

Hound spread the orders, confirmed that no other survivors had been found, not even among the children and newborns, and arrived at the gates in time to join the Hokage when he was already on his way to the hospital, the kunoichi arrived shortly after him with the news that the third guard would remain in the Complex to oversee the collect of the bodies. Sarutobi merely nodded to that, his attention obvious turned to other matters.

The man behind the dog mask clenches his fists and frown, the last time he saw the old man like this, looking tired and guilty as if the weight of the world are on his shoulder, was soon after the Kyuubi and the consequent death of the Yondaime. Things are only going to get worse after this he is sure of it.

                                                                              ///////////////

Sarutobi Hiruzen is tired.

Not just physically but a kind of tiredness that comes from his own soul, something that is attached to his very bones and put on his shoulders a weight that seems to threaten to crush him every single moment, there is no rest to this tiredness, no amount of sleep that will make it go away. It’s a weariness born of the worst tasks of a Hokage, including the one that just happened. He is not arrogant enough to think that his turbulent emotions are completely hidden from his guards, but he is also sure that none of them dream about the reason behind them.

The entire Uchiha Clan is dead and the guilt falls completely on him. He was not able to think of another solution, he could not negotiate the so dreamed peace fast enough and because of his faults Danzo acted in the name of Konoha, by his weakness a thirteen year old boy was coerced to commit heinous acts against people he loved, was coerced to leave behind his own brother, a traumatized child who will never understand what happened that night, the only survivor of an unpardonable crime.

(And there's something even more painful about it, because Minato would have done it, Minato who was so charismatic, whom everyone loved, who was a close friend of Uchiha Fugaku, he would have stopped this tragedy from happening, would have saved all those people. If only Hiruzen had been faster, if only he had managed to use his own soul to seal the Kyuubi, this massacre would never have happened)

_ Maybe not the only survivor. _

A hopeful voice whispers in his mind, because a girl is still breathing, still clinging to life and that is a relief without measures. Hiruzen can even understand why that child among all the others had a gentler fate -  _ if one can call that so  _ \- because Itachi is still a boy, still human, and there are certain things that no person, however strong, is capable of doing, he was not able to kill his younger brother and apparently was not able to take the life of his best friend's younger sister. Because nothing but the hesitation of Itachi himself may have saved that girl, not when she is still in the Academy and the former heir is the most brilliant shinobi of her generation, his mercy must have saved her.

But hope is something fragile and lethal. The younger one always think that hope is a force, something pure that motivates them and has the power to make any situation better, but Hiruzen is not young -  _ Never was, all his life seems to have been passed in the middle of the war, he doesn’t even know what being innocent is like, never did  _ \- and so he knows best. Ah yes hope is something important, everyone needs it, but at the same time it is the disgrace of men, it breaks spirits and hearts and leaves nothing but shards behind. So Hiruzen doesn’t allow himself this hope, he doesn’t allow himself to think about a future where Sasuke is not the only survivor of the Uchiha Clan.

But he also doesn’t leave the hospital, sitting in one of the empty offices he doesn’t give up on expecting good news from the doctors. He has always been an idealist, never able to kill his emotions and that is what steals his sleep at night but it is also what motivates him to get out of bed with each new morning, to continue wearing the title of Hokage and fighting for Konoha.

The kunoichi stands guard at the door, her stance tense and alert while the other guard the window with a similar disposition, both respecting the Hokage's desire for silence, at times like these words of false consolation mean nothing. Hiruzen sighs tiredly absently scratching his chin and trying not to think of a thirteen-year-old boy killing his own Clan for the sake of the Village just to have escape from said Village being forever branded as a cruel and unscrupulous traitor.

Hours pass and the sun is almost out when a doctor finally enters the office, exhausted to the point where he is almost doubling over, and when he stops in front of the Hokage there is a small smile in his lips:

"The surgery was a successful Hokage-sama, now we must wait to see the result."

"Will she survive?"

"We are hopeful that yes" The man responds with palpable relief "She lost too much blood and is currently on a coma, we are however hopeful  that she will wake up and in that case we can guarantee a complete recovery”

For the first time that day Sarutobi Hiruzen allowed himself a small smile, the relief in his almost palpable expression. A "maybe" is much more than he had before

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> Thank you for the attention and the patiente, i hope you enjoyed this first, very rushed, chapter!


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